Once a student has learned their first letter-sound links, I step up to words straight away. The whole point of reading is to read words!
To keep things simple, I start with real three-letter, Consonant-Vowel-Consonant words made up of letter-sounds we’ve practised together.
I avoid words with letters that students have yet to learn. I also avoid low-frequency letter-sound links.
One trick that helps my students, is to choose words that start with stretchy sounds (continuants) – sounds that can be held for as long as you have breath, like /m, s, n, h, f, l, r, z/.
They’re easier to blend for beginners than words starting with ‘stops’ like /p, b, t, d, k, and g/.
To consolidate early word reading skills, I also get my students to listen to the words and to ‘write’ them letter by letter, either by hand, or using magnetic letters (particularly for beginners).
To see exactly what I mean, check out my free Early Sound Blending Resource.
If you find it helpful, please let us know!
Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.
Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language
Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.
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